Month: February 2018

Still another group of spirits had difficulty believing that the Lord’s Word conceals these kinds of depths within, at its heart. (In the other life spirits keep the skepticism they had when they lived in their bodies; it is not broken down except through means provided by the Lord and through personal experience.) Accordingly, the inner eye of their mind was opened while I was reading some of David’s psalms, although these spirits were not lifted up to join angelic spirits. They perceived the inner dimensions of the Word in the psalms I was reading and, stunned by them, confessed that they had never believed in such things.

Many other spirits then listened to the same part of the Word, but they all perceived it in different ways. It filled the thoughts of some with many sweet, pleasant images and so with a kind of life, according to the capacity of each. It also had the strength to pierce through to their deepest core. With some its power was so great that they seemed to themselves to be lifted up toward the more inward parts of heaven. The more they were affected by its truth—and by the goodness interwoven with the truth—the closer they came to the Lord.

At the same time the Word was read to some who grasped none of its inner meaning but only its outer or literal meaning. In their eyes, the letter was lifeless.

This showed what the Word is like when the Lord brings it to life and when he does not. When he does, it has the power to penetrate to our inmost core; when he does not, it is mere words, with hardly any life in it.

The Lord in his divine mercy has also granted me the opportunity to see his Word in all the beauty of its inner sense. This he has done many, many times. I am not talking about the way it appears when the inner meaning of each individual word is explained but about the way it appears when the whole and all the parts form a single chain of thought. This can be described as seeing heaven’s paradise from earth’s.

Spirits who loved and enjoyed the Lord’s Word during their physical life feel a certain pleasant, heavenly warmth in the next life, and this too I was allowed to experience.

The spirits who had enjoyed the Word somewhat shared their warmth with me, and it resembled the balmy temperatures of spring. The warmth started in the area of my lips and spread through my cheeks and from there to my ears. It also reached up to my eyes and down toward the middle of my chest.

Other spirits felt even more pleasure in the Lord’s Word and in the deeper lessons that the Lord himself had taught. The warmth they shared with me was deeper and started in my chest, spreading up toward my chin and down toward my lower abdomen.

The warmth of those who felt still more pleasure was still more deeply gratifying and more springlike. It reached from my lower abdomen up to my chest and from there through my left arm to my hand.

I was taught by angels that this was the case, and they said that when such spirits come close, they trigger these waves of heat. The spirits themselves do not feel it, however, because they are inside it. The same is common with children, adolescents, and young adults; mostly they are not aware of the fire they have—although they have more than mature adults and old people do—because they are inside it.

In addition, I sensed the warmth of those who did enjoy the Word but did not concern themselves with understanding it. The heat was restricted to my right arm.

As far as heat goes, evil spirits can also conjure up a type that mimics the pleasurable kind, and they can share it with others, but it is strictly superficial; it has no inner source. This is the kind of heat that turns into something putrid and dunglike—the heat that adulterers and hedonists have.

A spirit came to me not long after he had left his body. (This I could tell from the fact that he did not yet realize he was in the other life but believed he was still living in the world.) I sensed that he had devoted his time to intellectual pursuits, which I discussed with him, but then to my amazement he suddenly soared into the air. I decided he was the type of person whose ambitions had been lofty (since people like this usually rise into the air) or that he thought heaven was at the top of the sky. (This kind of person too is usually raised aloft, in order to learn that heaven is not up high but deep within.)

I soon perceived, though, that he had been lifted up to a group of angelic spirits positioned a little out in front and to the right, on the first threshold of heaven. He then spoke to me from there, saying that he was seeing sights grander than the human mind could ever conceive. While this was happening, I was reading in the first chapter of Deuteronomy about the Jewish people, specifically the ones sent to scout out the land of Canaan and all that it held. As I was reading it, he said that he caught none of the contents of the literal meaning but only those of the spiritual meaning, which were too astounding to describe.

This occurred on the very threshold of the angelic spirits’ heaven. What would it be like in their heaven proper, or in the heaven of true angels?

Then certain spirits present with me, who had previously doubted that the Lord’s Word was like this, began to regret their disbelief. In their present state, they said they believed, because they had heard from the spirit that he heard, saw, and perceived it to be so.

Other spirits, however, stood by their disbelief and kept saying it was not true, it was all imagination. So they too were suddenly swept up high. They talked to me from there and confessed that it was anything but imagination, because they really perceived that it was true. In fact they perceived it more keenly than would ever be possible with any of the senses available during physical life.

Soon others too were raised into the same heaven, including someone known to me in bodily life. He gave the same testimony, saying among other things that he was too dumbfounded to describe the glory of the Word in its inner sense. Speaking with a kind of pity, he expressed astonishment that humans were completely unaware of such things.

What is more, he said that from there he could peer deeply into my thoughts and feelings. In them he saw more than he could tell—what caused them, how they interacted, where they came from, who inspired them, how the mental images mingled with earthly sediment, the need to separate the two completely, and so on.

On two later occasions I saw yet others raised into the second heaven to be with angelic spirits, and they talked to me from there while I read Deuteronomy 3 from start to finish. They said they focused only on the deeper sense of the Word and stated positively that not one tip of a letter in it failed to contain a spiritual meaning that harmonized in the most beautiful way with all the other parts. They added that the names symbolize something deeper. This proved to them as well that each and every particular in the Word had been inspired by the Lord, which they had not believed earlier. They also wanted to swear to the truth of this in the presence of others but were not allowed.

Some people love the Lord’s Word and live a kind and charitable life. Others believe what it says in a simple-hearted way, without making assumptions that undermine the religious truth of its inner meaning. When the Word is read by either kind of person, it is displayed by the Lord before angels’ eyes with tremendous beauty and charm, accompanied by visual representations and adapted with inexpressible variety to every phase they are then passing through. The beauty and charm are so great that every single facet is perceived as alive. This vital energy is the life that lies within the Word and that gave birth to the Word when it was sent down from heaven. For this reason, the Lord’s Word by its very nature conceals spiritual and heavenly messages within, no matter how unpolished it seems in the letter. These inner messages lie open to the view of good spirits and of angels when people on earth read the Word.

Since I have been given the opportunity to hear and see that the Lord’s Word is presented in this way before good spirits and angels, let me report my experiences.

Further still, heaven is where the Lord is recognized, trusted, and loved. The different ways he is worshiped—in variations that stem from the difference of activity from one community to another—do not cause harm but bring benefit, because they are a source of heaven’s perfection.

It is hard to explain this in such a way that it can be grasped without resorting to expressions usually found in academic circles and using them to explain how a perfect whole is formed from a variety of elements. Every perfect whole arises from a variety of elements, for a whole that is not composed of a variety of elements is not really anything. It has no form, and therefore no quality. However, when a whole does arise from a variety of elements, and the elements are in a perfected form in which each associates with the next in the series like a sympathetic friend, then it has a perfect quality. Heaven is, then, a single whole composed of a variety of elements arranged in the most perfect form; for of all forms, the form of heaven is the most perfect.

We can see that this underlies all perfection from every instance of beauty, charm, and delight that moves both our senses and our spirits. Such instances arise and flow invariably from a harmonious agreement of many things that are in sympathetic concord, whether they are together simultaneously or follow in a sequence. They do not flow from a single unit that lacks plurality. So we say that variety delights, and recognize that the delight depends on the quality of the variety. We can see from this, as though in a mirror, how perfection stems from variety in heaven as well, since things that happen in the natural world offer us a reflection of things in the spiritual world.

We can say the same of the church as we have of heaven, since the church is the Lord’s heaven on earth. It also has many components, and yet each is called a church and is a church to the extent that the qualities of love and faith rule within it. In it, the Lord forms a single whole out of the varied elements, and therefore makes a single church out of many churches.

Much the same can be said of the individual member of the church as has been said about the church in general, namely that the church is within and not outside, and that anyone is a church in whom the Lord is present in the qualities of love and faith.

Much the same can be said of the individual who has the church within as has been said about the angel who has heaven within, that such an individual is a church in least form as the angel is a heaven in least form. Even more, we can say that the individual who has the church within is a heaven just as much as an angel is, for we have been created to enter heaven and become angels. So anyone who has the quality of goodness from the Lord is an angel-person.

It is worth noting what we have in common with angels and what we possess that they lack. We have in common with angels the fact that our deeper levels are formed in the image of heaven and that we also become images of heaven to the extent that we participate in the qualities of love and faith. What we have that angels lack is that our more outward levels are formed in the image of this world; and that to the extent that we are engaged in what is good, the world within us is subordinated to heaven and serves it; and that then the Lord is present with us on both levels as he is in his heaven. He is actually present on both levels in his divine order, for God is order.

It should be noted in closing that people who have heaven within themselves have heaven not only in their larger or shared aspects but also in their smallest or most specific ones, with the smallest ones in them reflecting the largest. The reason for this is that as individuals we are our love and have a quality that depends on the quality of the love that is ruling. Whatever rules flows into the specifics and arranges them, and imposes everywhere an image of itself. In heaven, it is love for the Lord that rules, because the Lord is loved there above all else. As a result, the Lord is the sum and substance of everything there, flowing into absolutely everything, arranging everything, clothing everything with his likeness, and making heaven to be where he is. So an angel is a heaven in least form, a community a heaven in greater form, and all the communities together a heaven in greatest form. On the Lord’s divine nature as constituting heaven, and on his being the sum and substance of heaven, see above, Sections 7–12.

Just as a whole community is a heaven in lesser form, so too an angel is a heaven in least form. For heaven is not outside angels but within them. Their deeper levels, the levels of their minds, are arranged in the form of heaven and therefore are arranged to accept all the elements of heaven that are outside them. These elements they accept according to the quality of the goodness that is within them from the Lord. As a result, an angel is also a heaven.

It can never be said that heaven is outside anyone. It is within; because every angel accepts the heaven that is outside in keeping with the heaven that is within. We can see, then, how mistaken people are who think that getting into heaven is simply a matter of being taken up among the angels, regardless of the quality of their inner life, who believe that heaven is granted merely because of [the Lord’s] mercy. On the contrary, unless heaven is within an individual, nothing of the heaven that is outside flows in and is accepted.

There are many spirits who hold this opinion and who, because of their faith, have been taken up into heaven. However, once they arrived, because their inner life was contrary to the life angels are engaged in, they began to be blinded in their understanding to the point that they became virtually idiotic, while in regard to their self-control they began to be so tormented that they carried on like people gone mad. In short, people who have lived evil lives and who arrive in heaven bring their souls with them and are tormented like fish out of water, in the air, or like animals in the vacuum in air pumps once the air has been pumped out. It stands to reason, then, that heaven is within us and not outside.

Since everyone accepts the heaven that is outside according to the quality of the heaven that is within, angels accept the Lord in the same way, because it is the Lord’s divine nature that constitutes heaven. Consequently, when the Lord renders himself present in any particular community, his appearance depends on the nature of the good activity that community is engaged in. It is therefore not exactly the same in one community as in another. It is not that this difference is in the Lord: it is in the individuals who are seeing him from their own goodness and therefore in keeping with it. They are affected by the sight of him according to the quality of their own love. The ones who love him deeply are deeply moved, while the ones who love him less deeply are less deeply moved. Evil people, who are outside of heaven, find his presence intensely painful.

When the Lord does appear in any community, he appears there as an angel, but he is identified by the divine quality that shines through.

THE reason each community is a heaven in smaller form and each angel a heaven in smallest form is that the activity of love and faith is what makes heaven. This good activity is in every community of heaven and in every angel of a community. It does not matter that this activity is different and distinctive everywhere, it is still the activity of heaven. The only difference is that heaven has one activity here and another there. So whenever anyone is raised into any community of heaven, they say that he or she has arrived in heaven. They say of those who are there that they are in heaven, each in his or her own. All the people who have arrived in the other life realize this; so individuals who are standing outside or below heaven and looking off into the distance where there is a gathering of angels say that heaven is there—and over there as well.

It is rather like the situation of officials and functionaries and servants in a royal palace or court. Even though they live individually in their dwellings or in their rooms, some higher than others, still they are in a single palace or a single court, each one involved in a particular function in the service of the king. We can see from this what is meant by the Lord’s saying that “in my Father’s house there are many dwellings” (John 14:2) and by “the stories of heaven” and the “heavens of heavens” in the prophets.

We may also gather that a community is a heaven in lesser form from the fact that the heavenly form in each community is of the same nature as it is in heaven overall. In heaven overall (as noted above in Section 43), the most outstanding individuals are in the center, and around them, in decreasing order all the way to the circumference, are those who are less outstanding. It follows also from the fact that the Lord leads all the people in the whole of heaven as though they were a single angel, and does the same for those who are in any particular community. As a result, sometimes a whole angelic community appears as a single entity in the form of an angel, a sight that the Lord has allowed me to see. Further, when the Lord appears in the midst of angels, he does not appear surrounded by a crowd but as a lone individual in angelic form. This is why the Lord is called an angel in the Word, as is also a whole community: Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael are nothing but angelic communities that are given these names because of their functions.

In support of this, I would like in this first chapter simply to cite passages from the Word where it says “that day,” “on that day,” or “at that time,” passages where “day” and “time” mean the Lord’s Coming.

From Ezekiel:

The end has come; the end has come. It has come upon you like the morning. The time has come; the day of tumult is near. Behold the day; see, it has come. The trunk has blossomed; violence has sprouted. The day has arrived; the time has come upon their whole multitude. Their silver and gold will not rescue them on the day of Jehovah’s wrath. (Ezekiel 7:6, 7, 10, 12, 19)

People were saying of the prophet, “The vision that he is seeing will not happen for many days; his prophecy concerns distant times.” (Ezekiel 12:27)

They will not be able to stand up in the war on the day of Jehovah’s wrath. (Ezekiel 13:5)

You pierced, godless prince of Israel, whose day has come, in the time of iniquity of the end . . . (Ezekiel 21:25, 29)

O city shedding blood in your own midst so that its time will come, you have made the days approach so that you will come to your years. (Ezekiel 22:3, 4)

Surely on the day that I take their strength from them, on that day someone who has been rescued will come to you with information for you to hear. On that day your mouth will be opened to speak with the one who has been rescued. (Ezekiel 24:25, 26, 27)

On that day I will cause the horn of the house of Israel to grow. (Ezekiel 29:21)

Wail “Alas for the day,” because the day of Jehovah is near, the day of Jehovah is near. It will be a day of cloud, a time for the nations. On that day messengers from me will go forth. (Ezekiel 30:2, 3, 9)

On the day you go down into hell . . . (Ezekiel 31:15)

I myself will search for my flock, on a day when it is in the midst of your flock, and I will rescue them from all the places where they have been scattered on a cloudy and dark day. (Ezekiel 34:11, 12)

On the day when I cleanse you from all your iniquities . . . (Ezekiel 36:33)

Prophesy and say, “Will you not know it on that day when my people Israel settle safely? In the days to come I will bring you against my land. [This will happen] on that day, on the day when Gog comes upon the land [of Israel]. In my zeal, in the day of my indignation, surely on this day there will be a great earthquake upon the land of Israel.” (Ezekiel 38:14, 16, 18, 19)

Behold, it is coming; this is the day of which I have spoken. It will happen on that day that I will give Gog a burial place in the land of Israel, so that the house of Israel will know that I, Jehovah, am their God from that day on. (Ezekiel 39:8, 11, 22)

From Daniel:

God in the heavens has revealed mysteries concerning what will happen in the days to come. (Daniel 2:28)

The time came for the saints to establish the kingdom. (Daniel 7:22)

“Understand that the vision concerns the time of the end.” [Gabriel] said, “Behold, I am making known to you what will happen at the end of the wrath, because at the appointed time the end will come.” The vision of evenings and mornings is the truth. Hide the vision, because it is for many days. (Daniel 8:17, 19, 26)

I have come to make you understand what will happen to your people at the very last of days, because the vision applies to days yet to come. (Daniel 10:14)

Those who understand will be tested in order to be purified and cleansed, until the time of the end, since it is yet for an appointed time. (Daniel 11:35)

At that time Michael will rise up, the great leader who stands up for the children of your people. There will be a time of distress such as there has not been since the nation [began]. At this time, however, your people will be rescued—everyone who is found written in the book. (Daniel 12:1)

You, Daniel, close up the words and seal the book until the time of the end. But from the time when the daily offering is taken away and the abomination that causes devastation is set up, there will be one thousand two hundred and ninety days. You will arise into your inheritance at the end of days. (Daniel 12:4, 9, 11, 13)

In support of this, I would like in this first chapter simply to cite passages from the Word where it says “that day,” “on that day,” or “at that time,” passages where “day” and “time” mean the Lord’s Coming.

From Jeremiah:

In those days you will no longer say, “The ark of the covenant of Jehovah.” At that time they will call Jerusalem the throne of Jehovah. In those days the house of Judah will go to the house of Israel. (Jeremiah 3:16, 17, 18)

In that day the heart of the monarch will perish, and the heart of the royal family, and the priests and the prophets will be stunned. (Jeremiah 4:9)

Behold, the days are coming in which the earth will turn into a wasteland. (Jeremiah 7:32, 34)

They will fall among those who fall on the day of their visitation. (Jeremiah 8:12)

Behold, the days are coming in which I will execute judgment upon everyone whose foreskin has been circumcised. (Jeremiah 9:25)

In the time of their visitation they will perish. (Jeremiah 10:15)

There will be no remnant of them; I will bring evil upon them in the year of their visitation. (Jeremiah 11:23)

Behold, the days are coming in which it will no longer be said . . . (Jeremiah 16:14)

I will look at them in the back of the neck and not in the face on the day of their destruction. (Jeremiah 18:17)

Behold, the days are coming in which I will make this place a devastation. (Jeremiah 19:6)

Behold, the days are coming in which I will raise up for David a righteous branch who will rule as king. In those days Judah will be saved and Israel will dwell in safety. Therefore behold, the days are coming in which it will no longer be said . . . I will bring evil upon them in the year of their visitation. At the very last of days you will fully understand. (Jeremiah 23:5, 6, 7, 12, 20)

Behold, the days are coming in which I will turn back [the captivity of my people]. Alas, that day will be great, and there will be none like it. It will happen on that day that I will break the yoke and tear off the fetters. (Jeremiah 30:3, 7, 8)

The day will come when the guards cry out on Mount Ephraim, “Arise, let us climb Zion to Jehovah our God.” Behold, the days are coming in which I will make a new covenant. The days are coming in which the city of Jehovah will be built. (Jeremiah 31:6, 27, 31, 38)

The days are coming in which I will perform the good word [that I promised]. In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous branch to grow for David. In those days Judah will be saved. (Jeremiah 33:14, 15, 16)

On that day I will bring words against this city for evil. You, though, I will rescue on that day. (Jeremiah 39:16, 17)

That day will be a day of vengeance for the Lord Jehovih Sabaoth; he will take vengeance on his enemies. The day of destruction has come upon them, the time of their visitation. (Jeremiah 46:10, 21)

Because of the day that is coming for devastation . . . (Jeremiah 47:4)

I will bring upon [Moab] the year of visitation. Nevertheless I will bring back its captives at the very last of days. (Jeremiah 48:44, 47)

I will bring destruction upon them at the time of their visitation. Their youths will fall in the streets and all their men of war will be cut down on that day. At the very last of days I will bring back their captives. (Jeremiah 49:8, 26, 39)

In those days and at that time the children of Israel and the children of Judah will come together and seek Jehovah their God. In those days and at that time the iniquity of Israel will be sought, but there will be none. Woe to [the Babylonians], because their day has come, the time of their visitation. (Jeremiah 50:4, 20, 27, 31)

They are vanity, a work of errors; they will perish at the time of their visitation. (Jeremiah 51:18)

In support of this, I would like in this first chapter simply to cite passages from the Word where it says “that day,” “on that day,” or “at that time,” passages where “day” and “time” mean the Lord’s Coming.

From Isaiah:

In the days to come it will happen that the mountain of Jehovah will be established as the highest of the mountains. On that day Jehovah alone will be exalted. The day of Jehovah Sabaoth is majestic and high above all. On that day people will throw away idols of their silver and gold. (Isaiah 2:2, 11, 12, 20)

On that day the Lord Jehovih will take away adornments. (Isaiah 3:18)

On that day the branch of Jehovah will be beautiful and glorious. (Isaiah 4:2)

[Their enemy] will roar against the people on that day and look down on the earth. Behold, there is darkness and anxiety, and the light will be growing darker among their ruins. (Isaiah 5:30)

It will happen on that day that Jehovah will whistle to the fly at the very end of the rivers of Egypt. On that day the Lord will shave [Judah] at the crossings of the river. On that day he will bring [a young cow and two sheep] to life. On that day every place will become brambles and thorns. (Isaiah 7:18, 20, 21, 23)

What will you do on the day of visitation? Who will come? On that day Israel will rely on Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. (Isaiah 10:3, 20)

It will happen on that day that the nations will seek out the root of Jesse, the one who stands as a sign for the peoples, and glory will be his rest. Above all, on that day the Lord will seek out the remnant of his people. (Isaiah 11:10, 11)

You will say on that day, “I will praise you, Jehovah.” You will say on that day, “Praise Jehovah! Call upon his name!” (Isaiah 12:1, 4)

The day of Jehovah is near; it will come from Shaddai like destruction. Behold, the cruel day of Jehovah is coming—a day of resentment, blazing wrath, and anger. I will violently move heaven, and the earth will be shaken out of its place, on the day of his blazing anger. His time is at hand and it will come, and the days will not be prolonged. (Isaiah 13:6, 9, 13, 22)

It will happen on that day that the glory of Jacob will be worn away. On that day, people will look back to their Maker, and their eyes [will look] toward the Holy One of Israel. On that day there will be cities of refuge in the forsaken parts of the forest. (Isaiah 17:4, 7, 9)

Those who dwell on [this] island will say on that day, “Look at what has happened to our hope!” (Isaiah 20:6)

On that day there will be five cities in the land of Egypt speaking the languages of Canaan. On that day there will be an altar to Jehovah in the center of Egypt. On that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and Israel will be at the center of the land. (Isaiah 19:18, 19, 23, 24)

A day of tumult, trampling, and confusion from the Lord Jehovih Sabaoth . . . (Isaiah 22:5)

On that day Jehovah will punish the army of the high place and the monarchs of the earth. After a great many days they will be punished. Then the moon will blush and the sun will be ashamed. (Isaiah 24:21, 23)

It will be said on that day, “Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him to set us free.” (Isaiah 25:9)

On that day this song will be sung in the land of Jehovah: “We have a strong city.” (Isaiah 26:1)

On that day Jehovah will bring punishment with his sword. On that day answer him by saying, “A vineyard whose wine is pure.” (Isaiah 27:1, 2, 12, 13)

On that day Jehovah Sabaoth will become an ornate crown and a diadem. (Isaiah 28:5)

Then on that day the deaf will hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind will see out of the darkness. (Isaiah 29:18)

On the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall, there will be a channel of waters. The light of the moon will be like the light of the sun on the day when Jehovah binds up the breach of his people. (Isaiah 30:25, 26)

On that day they will each throw away the idols of their silver and gold. (Isaiah 31:7)

The day of Jehovah’s vengeance, the year of his recompense . . . (Isaiah 34:8)

These two things will come to you in one day: the loss of your children, and widowhood. (Isaiah 47:9)

My people will know my name, and on that day [they will know that] I am the one saying “Here I am!” (Isaiah 52:6)

Jehovah has anointed me to proclaim the year of Jehovah’s good pleasure and the day of vengeance for our God, to comfort all who are mourning. (Isaiah 61:1, 2)

The day of vengeance is in my heart and the year of my redeemed has arrived. (Isaiah 63:4)

We can see clearly that the specific Word meant here is the Word made known through Moses, the prophets, and the evangelists, since this is the actual divine truth from which angels get all their wisdom and from which we get our spiritual intelligence. In fact, angels in the heavens have the very same Word that we have in the world, though for us in the world it is earthly, while in the heavens it is spiritual. Further, since it is divine truth, the Word is also something divine that is emanating, and this is not only from the Lord but is the Lord himself.

Since it is the Lord himself, absolutely everything written in the Word is about the Lord alone. From Isaiah to Malachi every detail has to do with the Lord, either directly or in an opposite, negative sense.

No one has seen this before, but anyone who knows this and thinks of it can see it while reading, especially given the knowledge that in the Word there is not only an earthly meaning but a spiritual one as well; and that in this latter meaning the names of persons and places are used to mean something about the Lord and therefore something about heaven and the church that come from him—or something opposed to the Lord.

Since absolutely everything in the Word is about the Lord, and since the Word is the Lord because it is divine truth, we can see why it says “The Word became flesh and lived among us; and we saw his glory” [John 1:14]. We can also see why it says “While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become children of the light. I have come into the world as a light; anyone who believes in me will not remain in darkness” [John 12:36, 46]. “Light” is divine truth and therefore the Word. For this reason, even nowadays anyone who turns to the Lord alone while reading the Word and who prays to him will find enlightenment in it.

I need at this point to say briefly what all the prophets of the Old Testament from Isaiah to Malachi have to say about the Lord, in general and in some detail.

1. The Lord came into the world in the fullness of time [Galatians 4:4], which was when he was no longer recognized by Jews and when for this reason there was no longer anything left of the church; and unless the Lord had come into the world and revealed himself at that time, humankind would have suffered eternal death. He says in John, “If you do not believe that I am, you will die in your sins” (John 8:24).

2. The Lord came into the world to carry out a last judgment, thereby subduing the hells that were then in control, and doing so by means of battles or trials that were permitted to attack the human nature he had received from his mother, and by a constant succession of victories. Unless the hells had been subdued, no one could have been saved.

3. The Lord came into the world to glorify his human nature—that is, to unite it to the divine nature that he had from conception.

4. The Lord came into the world to found a new church that would recognize him as Redeemer and Savior and that would be redeemed and saved through its love for and faith in him.

5. At the same time he was reorganizing heaven and uniting it with the church.

6. The suffering on the cross was the final battle or trial by means of which he completely subdued the hells and completely glorified his human nature.

In my forthcoming booklet on Sacred Scripture it will become evident that these are the sole subjects of the Word.